Coupler with a pair of pivoted jaws and automatic latching means



y 1957 G. c. MONCKMEIER 2,798,741

' COUPLER WITH A PAIR OF PIVOTED JAWS AND AUTOMATIC LATCHING MEANS Filed Nov. 17, 1954 0 29. 7 ao&9 JZ

/4 g wm I "II/III 66 A3 I 1 A I -5 INVENTOR.

BEMUNEKITEIEE COUPLERWITH A PAIR OF PIVOTED JAWS AND AUTOMATIC LATCHING MEANS This invention relates to a coupler and especially to a coupler for hitching a towing vehicle to a trailing vehicle.

States Patent The coupler belongs principally to the class in which normally closed coupler jaws are restrained against separation by a shiftable control latch, the arrangement being that thecoupler jaws can spread apart to permit the entrance or exit of a coupler pin as long as the latch does notint erfere with free movement of the opposite ends of the jaws.

Couplers of the general character referred to have heretofore been known but are considered unsuitable for practical use because of defects in design, cost of manufacture and the presentation of annoying maintenance problems. According to the present invention these defects are eliminated by the provision of a shell-like casing or support mounting a pair of jaws and enclosing substantially all of the control means for the jaws, thereby affording a certain measure of protection for the latch and biasing means therefor and the inner ends of the jaws. The invention features a casing having a base and a cover, each of halfshell character and complementing each other at opposite sides of a horizontal median plane and presenting proximate surfaces configured to accommodate the jaws, the latch or tongue, a rockshaft for the tongue, and a biasing spring for the tongue.

Other objects will appear as a preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed by way of example in the following specification and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the assembled-coupler;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the couplerwith the cover in disassembled relationship to the remainder of the structure;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary schematic plan view showing in full lines the closed coupler jaws and in dotted lines the open coupler jaws;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view as seen sub stantially along the line 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a sectional view as seen along the line 5-5 of Figure 1;

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view as seen on the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

The coupler comprises essentially an elongated foreand-aft extending shell-like casing or support 10 made up of a plate-like or half-shell base 12 and a plate-like or half-shell top or cover 14, the components 12 and 14 constituting substantially similar complementary halves secured together respectively at opposite sides of a central horizontal plane across which are opposed the upper or top surface 16 of the base and the bottom or under surface 18 of the top or cover.

The coupler as a whole may be considered as having front and rear ends 20 and 22 respectively, which ends are determined on the basis of the normal position that the coupler will occupy when used with the drawbar or equivalent draft structure of a vehicle such as a tractor or truck, which use is typically conventional and needs no elaboration here. a p The top face or surface 16 of the base 12 is configured A 2,798,741 Patented July 9, 1957 to provide adjacent the front end thereof a substantially horizontal cover-mounting surface 24 having a transverse rear marginal edge 26. Spaced rearwardlyfrom the edge 26 is a pair of transversely alined upstanding ribs 28, the inner ends of which are spaced apart laterally to provide a fore-and-aft groove 30 leading to or in communication with a transverse groove 32 of semicircular section defined between the ribs 28 and the marginal edge 26 of the surface 16. Stated otherwise, the transverse groove 32 and the fore-and-aft groove 30 intersect to define what may be termed a T-shalped recess.

The rear end of the base 12 has a furcation 34' on which is formed an upper flat surface 35 which serves to mount a pair of complementary jaws 36. The jaws have normally closed rear ends38 and normally laterally spaced apart front ends 40 and are respectivelypivoted at 42 on upright pivots rising from the face or surface 35 of the base 12. Forwardly of the closed rear ends 38 of the jaws are complementary semicircular notches 44 in the jawswhich, when the jaws are closed, define a couplerpin-receiving aperture, the numeral 46 in Figure 3 representing a typical pin;

The inner portions of the jaws 36 are intergeared or in mesh as at 48 so that the jaws move uniformly relative to each other about their respective pivots 42. As indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3, the front ends 40 of the jaws may move together, if not otherwise obstructed, which results in separation of therear ends 38, whereupon the coupling pin 46 may exit from thepin-receiving aperture formed by the notches 44. As is conventional in coupler jaws of this general type, the rear end portions of the jaws respectively have inclined surfaces 50 so that a vehicle equipped with the coupler may be backed into the coupler pin of a stationary vehicle, for example, and the coupler pin will force the jaws apart as the front ends 40 of the jaws are not restrained.

Control of the jaws 36' is accomplished by a T-shaped latch member designated generally by the numeral 52. This latch member comprises a transverse cylindrical rockshaft 54 lying in part in and journaled by the transverse groove 32 in the base 12. In addition to the rockshaft, the member 52 has an external operating lever 56 and an internal tongue or radial arm 58 which occupies a normal position lengthwise of the fore-and-aft groove 30 and projecting between the normally laterally spaced apart front ends 40 of the jaws 36. The tongue or arm 58, when in its normal position, prevents relative movement of the front ends of the jaws toward each other and consequently prevents separation of the normally closed rear ends 38 ofthe jaws. The rear end of the tongue is rounded at 60 to facilitate operation thereof, as will presently appear.

The top or cover 14 has its under surface 1% configured to establish or alford a bottom base-contacting surface 62 which abuts or rests on the covenreceiving surface 24 of the base 12. The rear end. portion of the cover is offset vertically from the surface 62 to provide a rear furcation 64 having an under surface 66 cooperative with the surface 35 of thebase furcation 34, the furcations 34 and 64 giving the support or casing 16 a bifurcated rear end providing a pocket opening to the rear and within which major portions of the jaws 36 are housed or contained.

The jaw pivots 42 are extended upwardly through the cover furcation 64 and are in the form of bolts, the heads of which appear at 68 in Figures 1 and 4.

The cover 14 has therein a transverse groove or recess 7% of semicircular section, which groove is defined between a rear terminal edge 72 of the surface 62 and a pair of transversely alined depending ribs 74, which ribs have inner ends spaced apart to define :a substantially rectangular opening 76. As will be seen, the opening 76 and groove or recess 70 form between them a T-shaped recess that complements the T-shaped recess established by the grooves 30 and 32 in the base 12, thetransverse semicylindrical recesses 32 and 70 combining to establish a transverse rockshaft bore 78 in which the rocks haft 54 is rockable. The opening 76 is in vertical alinement with the fore-and-aft groove 30 in the base and the intermediate part of the cover 14 is drawn or' otherwise shaped as a dome 80 to establish a roofed pocket 82 in which the latch tongue or arm 58 may move vertically between its normal position (full lines in Figs. 1 through 4 and 6) and a raised or released position clear of the front ends 40 of the jaws 36 (dotted lines in Fig. 4).

Biasing means, here in the form of a coiled compression spring 84 operates between the interior of the dome 80 and the latch arm 58 to urge the latch to its normal position. The latch is bored at 86 to receive the lower end of the spring 84 and the dome is bored at 88 to receive the upper end. 7

In addition to the bolts 68, the coupler halves may be secured together by bolts 90. The front end portion of the base 12 has therein a plurality of circular openings 92 which, when the coupler is assembled, register with like circular openings 94 in the cover. These registered openings are adapted to receive suitable securing means (not shown) for mounting the coupler on the draft structure of a vehicle.

The shell-like construction of the coupler halves 12 and 14 is such as to enclose the rockshaft 54, the release tongue 58 and the biasing spring 84, as well as the major portions of the jaws 36, leaving only the rear ends of the jaws and the rockshaft control arm 56 exposed. The critical working parts of the coupler are therefore enclosed and free from the elements, dirt and other foreign matter. The arm 56 provides a convenient means for controlling the latch tongue 53, and this arm may be apertured as at 96 to permit the connection of a control cord or chain (not shown).

Other advantages of the invention will occur to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

l. A coupler of the character described, comprising: a generally horizontal fore-and-aft extending plate-like base member having a top face and front and rear ends and opposite fore-and-aft extending sides, said base having a transverse depression therein aifording a semicircular bearing half; a horizontal rockshaft crosswise of the top face intermediate the front and rear ends of the base member and having an operating arm secured thereto laterally beyond one of said sides; a pair of cooperative jaws on the top face rearwardly of the rockshaft and arranged in side-by-side generally horizontally coplanar relation to each other, said jaws respectively having normally closed rear ends rearwardly of the rear end of the base member and normally laterally spaced apart front ends proximate to the rockshaft; a pair of laterally spaced pivots rising from the base member top face respectively intermediate the front and rear ends of the jaws and respectively mounting the jaws for relative lateral pivoting to enable lateral opening of the rear ends of the jaws as the front ends of the jaws move laterally toward each other; a tongue fixed to the rockshaft and extending radially rearwardly therefrom intermediate the sides of said base and over the top face of the base member to occupy a normal position received between the spaced apart front ends of the jaws and thereby precluding relative pivoting of the jaws, said tongue being movable upwardly, upon rocking of the rockshaft, to a release position clear of said front ends of the jaws and thereby enabling said front ends to pass beneath said tongue; a generally horizontal fore-and-aft extending plate-like cover having front and rear ends and a bottomv face complementing and superimp d er he t p f c of the base member, said bottom face of the cover having a transverse depression affording a second bearing half therein and cooperative with the base member hearing half to provide a bearing for the rockshaft, said cover further having upwardly directed pocket structure affording a housing for the rockshaft tongue and constructed to accommodate movement of said tongue to its released position, and said cover further having a jawsupporting and guiding surface overlying the jaws; means securing the base member and cover together; and means within the pocket structure and enclosed thereby and engaging the tongue and biasing the tongue to its normal position.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: the base member has on its top face a pair of upstanding laterally spaced apart stop elements, one at each side of the tongue and serving to limit lateral shifting of the tongue and rockshaft relative to the base member.

3. A coupler of the character described, comprising: a base of half-shell construction including front and rear ends and opposite sides and a top face configured to provide adjacent said front end a substantially horizontal cover-mounting surface having a transverse rear marginal edge, a pair of transversely alined upstanding ribs spaced rearwardly of and parallel to said marginal edge and defining therewith a transverse groove, said ribs respectively having inner ends spaced apart to provide a fore-and-aft groove leading to the transverse groove, and said top face further having a rear substantially flat and horizontal jaw-supporting surface to which said foreand-aft groove leads; a cover of half-shell construction fitting the base and having a bottom face configured to provide a base-engaging surface having face-to-face contact with the cover-mounting surface and including a rear terminal edge and a pair of transversely alined depending ribs cooperative to define a transverse groove complementing and providing with the lower transverse groove a transverse bore, said depending ribs having inner ends spaced apart to define a fore-and-aft opening directly over the fore-and-aft groove in the base, said cover having a substantially dome-shaped upper part rigid therewith and providing a roofed pocket over said fore-and-aft groove, said bottom face further having a jaw-supporting surface parallel to and spaced vertically from the jaw supporting surface of the base; a pair of horizontally coplanar jaws received between the jawsupporting surfaces and pivoted thereto respectively on laterally spaced apart upright pivots for relative lateral swinging, said jaws respectively having normally closed rear ends rearwardly beyond the base and, cover and normally laterally spaced apart front ends proximate to and alined with the fore-and-aft groove in the base plate and below the pocket in the cover; a rockshaft journaled in the aforesaid bore and having a rearwardly projecting tongue fixed thereto and lying along said foreand-aft groove to normally enter between the spaced apart front ends of the jaws, said rockshaft being'rockable to raise the tongue into the aforesaid pocket so that said front ends of the jaws may pass beneath said raised tongue for opening the rear ends of the jaws; biasing means in the pocket for urging the tongue between the front ends of the jaws; and means securing the'base and cover together with the jaws, rockshaft, tongue and biasing means between them.

4. A coupler of the character described, comprising: a generally horizontal fore-and-aft extending plate-like base member having a top face and front and rear ends, said top face having therein a T-shaped depression in which the cross-bar of the T is transverse and the leg of the T is fore-and-aft of the base member; a generally horizontal fore-and-aft extending plate-like cover having front and rear ends and a bottom face superimposed over the top face of the base member, said bottom face of the cover having therein a T-shaped recess complementing the IT-shaped recessin the base member; a pair of horizontally coplanar jaws arranged side-by-side and extending fore-and-aft of the base member and cover, said jaws having normally closed rear ends rearwardly of the base member and cover and front ends normally spaced apart laterally to afford a gap in fore-and-aft alinement with the fore-and-aft part of the aforesaid complementary T-shaped recess; a T-shaped latch member having a transverse part and a fore-and-aft part housed between the base member and cover in said complementary T-shaped recesses, said fore-and-aft part of the latch normally filling the space between the front ends of the jaws and being movable vertically to clear said front ends so that they may move toward each other and thus open the rear ends of the jaws; and biasing means contained within the leg of at least one of the T- shaped recesses and acting on the latch member to urge the fore-and-aft part normally between the front ends of the jaws.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

